The Demigod Tales: Another Side, Another Story
by Matthias the Wanderer
Summary: Written in cooperation with Truly Human, step into a story of intrigue and sacrifice, and learn Shin-li's side of The Demigod Tales. Rating may change.
1. The New Kid-Alt

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any… cookies. No, seriously, I'm out, it sucks.

Shin-Li is mine, Xander belongs to Truly Human.

This is the only disclaimer you get. Anyone doesn't like it, the furies are going to be your new best friends.

* * *

Annabeth stormed over to the bench and snatched her sketchbook off the table beside her.

"Uh-oh. What happened, Clarisse mouth off to you again?" The boy beside her looked to be older than her by about a year, and was wearing a plain white tank top underneath an open black shirt, plain jeans, and a pair of sturdy leather sandals. His black hair was pulled tight into a short ponytail close to the top of his head, and narrow, storm grey eyes glanced up from the book he was studying.

She sighed. "No, just frustrated with the new kid." Shin-li just chuckled. "I told you not to expect too much. He hasn't had a lot of time to adjust, from what I hear." Annabeth scowled at him. "Okay, okay, calm down. Anyways, I wanted to go over this with you. These pillars, here. I think they should be spread out, and staggered in two rows. That way, you can space the windows to accommodate, and…"

* * *

Ten minutes later, Chiron walked up, leading a somewhat disheveled and confused looking boy about Annabeth's age. "Annabeth, Shin-li, I have masters archery at noon. Would you take Percy from here?" Shin-li nodded. "Sure." Annabeth just glared at the boy, until Shin-li kicked her under the table.

"Cabin eleven," Chiron said, showing him. "Make yourself at home." The campers bowed to Chiron, and he turned to leave. "Well then, good luck, Percy. I'll see you at dinner." Shin-li took a glance at Annabeth. She was getting frustrated again. "Well? Go on." Percy started towards the cabin, and Shin-li decided to spare him the usual first day mishap. "Watch the first step," he muttered, slipping past him into the cramped cabin. "Percy Jackson, meet cabin eleven."

"Regular or undetermined?" Shin-li held back a groan. Why did someone always ask that gods-damned question the minute a new kid showed up? _Might as well get it over with._ "Undetermined." _3, 2, 1…_ Right on cue, everyone in the cabin started moaning. _Ah, the ever famous cabin eleven welcome. Damn it all, where's…_

"Now, now, campers, that's what we're here for." Luke Castellan, timely as usual, stepped forward. He flashed Percy a quick, appraising look, and was back in character before anyone noticed. "Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor over there." He gestured to the spot of empty space that always seemed to crop up whenever a new camper arrived.

Shin-li caught Luke's eye as Annabeth started explaining the situation to Percy. A quick glance around the room, and then he rolled his eyes. _Well that went as smoothly as ever,_ he said in the inexplicable sign language the two always managed to understand. The corner of Luke's mouth twitched, and he gave a slight shrug. _Well, that's life here in the glorious cabin eleven._ Shin-li gave him a wry smirk.

"How long will I be here?" Luke arched one of his eyebrows at his friend. _That's my cue._ "Good question," he said aloud. "Until you're determined." Percy turned back to Annabeth, and Shin-li walked over to Luke. "We need to talk." Luke took a glance at Annabeth leading Percy away. "I'll meet you there later." Shin-li nodded, and went over to his bunk to relax.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Luke came up behind Shin-li and sat down on top of the large rock the two often met at at the edge of the woods. "So, what did you need to talk about?" Shin-li glanced at him. "I wanted to know what you thought of Percy." Luke leaned back and rested his head against the tree that had grown through and split the once larger boulder in half. "What, the new kid? I don't know, seems alright, why?"

"You didn't sense anything… different about him?"

"Different?" Luke sat up straight now, giving Shin-li a curious look. "Different how?" Shin-li shook his head. "I'm not sure. All I can say for certain is that he's not an average demigod." The relaxed look bleeds off of Luke's face, and he slides into a more serious mood. A frown tugs at the scar on his jaw. "Do you think he could be the one? We've been waiting a long time." Shin-li stared into the distance, deep in thought.

"It's possible," he said eventually. "He doesn't seem gifted, but he's new to this. Nobody adapts that quickly, we have to expect that. I think we should look into recruiting him. If he is a child of the big three, we gain a powerful ally, and if not, we lose nothing." Luke nodded slowly, agreeing. "Alright. Be careful, though. Chiron seems to have his eye on this one, and I don't want to draw his attention." "Agreed."

They drifted into other, more relaxed topics as they walked back towards camp, regular discussions about their favorite weapons, and which girls they wanted to see more of in water games.

Luke was shaking his head. "Yeah, yeah, I see your point, but I still say that…" "Hey, Luke, Shin-li!" The boys turned towards the voice. "Grover?" Asked Shin-li. "What's up?"

Grover reached the two, and put his hands on his knees to catch his breath. "You guys… will never… believe… what Percy just did…"

As Grover panted, Shin-li and Luke spared a glance at each other. An insight into his abilities, perhaps? Shin-li looked down at his friend. "What happened, Grover?"

Grover stood up straight, and took a deep breath. "Well, it all started when Clarisse ran into him and Annabeth on their way to…"


	2. Introductions-Alt

Shin-li and Luke were muttering under a tree a ways from the path, furiously debating what to make of Grovers news.

"Controlling water does not make him a son of the Sea God!" Luke snapped under his breath. Shin-li scowled back. "Can you think of another God who controls water, and who would have a kid that strong?" "Strength isn't an absolute factor," Luke countered, "look at you and Xander."

A slightly strained look flickered across Shin-li's face. "That's different…" he began, and then sighed. "But I concede the point. All right, he might not be a son of… _him_… but he's still obviously talented enough to make a strong effort to recruit him."

Luke frowned, drawing his scar tight across his jaw, before nodding once. "Agreed. I'll get some gifts to make him comfortable. You find Percy, try and make the most out of this."Shin-li nodded. "More like play damage control, if I can't stop Annabeth from snapping at him in time." Luke chuckled. "Have fun." Shin-li glared at him as he walked off. "Ass."

He found Percy at the edge of the lake with Annabeth, waving cautiously at some Naiads. "Don't encourage them," he advised. "Naiads are terrible flirts." Not usually this bad, though. He was becoming more and more convinced that he was right.

"Naiads," Percy said tonelessly. "That's it, I want to go home."

"You are home. This is the only home for kids like us." Shin-Li said, not bothering to soften the truth. "Outside this camp you're fair game for any monster that cares to try their luck. And that's going to be all of them. You want to live, you stay here."

"Kids like us. You mean mentally disturbed kids" Annabeth glared at him. "He means not human. At least not all human. Half human." "Half human half what?" Percy asked, looking like he didn't really want to know. Annabeth wasn't having any of it. "I think you know."

Percy paused for a second, just looking at her, then sighed. "God. Half God." Annabeth nodded, satisfied. "Your father isn't dead, Percy," she explained, "he's one of the Olympians." Percy didn't seem to take it well.

"That's… crazy."

Shin-li allowed himself a quick grimace. This part was never particularly easy. "Is it?" He asked quietly. "Think about it. What's the one thing the Gods did in the old stories?" "Argue?" Percy said, looking for all the world like he expected Annabeth to snap at him again.

Shin-li couldn't help it. He laughed. Percy had named perhaps the one thing the Gods did more than have kids. "Point." He conceded. "But not exactly what I meant. They went around having children with mortals. Why would they change that in the few centuries that have passed since then?"

Percy scowled a bit. "But those are just…" He trailed off, apparently thinking of the events of the last few days. "Look, if all the kids here are half God…" "Demigod." Annabeth interrupted. "That's the official term. Or Half Blood."

"Then who's your dad?"

Shin-li almost winced. _Uh-oh._

"My dad is a professor at West Point," she said, grabbing hold of her father's ring. "I haven't seen him since I was very small. He teaches american history."

"He's human." Percy said, as if trying to wrap his mind around it.

_Strike two._

"What?" Annabeth snapped, now clearly annoyed. "You assume it has to be a male god who finds a human female attractive? How sexist is that?"

"Who's your mom, then?" Percy asked insistently, not willing to give up.

"Cabin six." Annabeth said, drawing herself up with pride. Shin-li frowned at her. "He doesn't know what that means, Annabeth." He reprimanded.

Seeing that this was, in fact, the case, she sighed in frustration. Apparently this was somehow his fault. _Strike three, then._

"Athena, the Goddess of wisdom and battle." Percy had a look on his face that said that he wouldn't be surprised if the easter bunny popped up in front of him and danced the polka.

"What about you?" He asked, looking at Shin-li. He grimaced in response. "My mother's… not an olympian. Let's just say you wouldn't want to meet her." Percy nodded. "Okay, what about my dad?"

Shin-li glanced at Annabeth. "We don't know. That's what undetermined means."

"My mom knew." Percy said, and suddenly Shin-li could feel the depression rolling off the younger boy in waves. He was in a bad way over this, no mistake. Annabeth seemed to notice as well. "Maybe not, Percy." She said gently. "Gods don't always reveal their identities."

"My dad would have. He loved her." Annabeth looked for all the world like she was about to kick a puppy.

Shin-li was curious, however. This didn't sound like childish stubbornness. It was almost as if he had an actual reason for his belief. "It's possible," he said before Annabeth could burst his bubble, "but at the same time, unlikely. Gods don't like being tied down. But, if you're right, maybe he'll send a sign. It's the only way to know."

"Maybe? You mean sometimes it doesn't happen?" Percy said, looking apprehensive.

Annabeth avoided his eyes, looking for all the world like she didn't want to have this conversation. "The gods are busy." She explained. "They have a lot of children and they don't always…well sometimes they don't care about us Percy. They ignore us."

It was with a twisted sort of optimism that Shin-li thought he saw a look of indignation pass over Percy's face.

"So I'm stuck here. That's it. For the rest of my life?"

Shin-li sighed internally. Now to build up false hope. He hated manipulating people into misery, for all his talent at it. "Well maybe not." He lied, knowing full well the boy was far too powerful in any case. "It depends on the demigod. If you're a child of Demeter or Aphrodite you won't have a powerful combative aura, and some monsters might ignore you. But if you're something like a son of Ares, then you have a more aggressive aura that's bound to attract monsters."

"We're the year rounders." Annabeth continued. "We attract monsters. They sense us. They come to challenge us. Most of the time they leave us alone until we're old enough to start causing trouble, ten or eleven years old. But after that most demigods find there way here or they get killed off. A few manage to survive in the outside world and become famous. Believe me, if I told you their names you'd know them. Some don't even realize they're demigods. But very few are like that."

"So monsters can't get in here?" Percy asked. "Not on their own." Shin-li agreed. "Some are stocked in the woods. Any others have to be specially summoned by someone inside." Percy looked horrified at the thought.

"Why would anyone want to summon a monster?" "Practical jokes. Practice fights." Shin-Li shrugged. "I know for a fact that Xander has permission from Chiron and Mr. D to summon them so he can get in a good fight."

"Xander…" Percy said, as if trying to place the name. "That guy with white hair I met earlier?"

_Shit._ "Oh, you already met him? Yeah, that's the guy."

This was not good. Shin-li wanted to limit Xander's influence on the boy as much as possible. When he and Luke had first started their plan, he had tried to scout the boy for recruitment, but despite his rage, he seemed surprisingly unbothered with the way things were run.

Percy shook his head slightly, changing the subject. "So I could just walk out of here if I wanted?" "It would be suicide but you could with Mr. D's or Chiron's permission." Annabeth told him. "But they won't give permission until the end of the summer unless…"

"Annabeth!" Shin-li cut her off, shocked that she would try to rope an untrained kid into a quest. She pouted. "It could happen!"

Percy was lost. "What?"

"You could be granted a quest," Annabeth said, glaring defiantly at Shin-li, "but it hardly ever happens."

Shin-li matched her glare with practiced ease. "After last time, I can see why." He snapped.

Percy looked like he was about to speak up, thought better of it, and asked something else. "Back in the room when you were feeding me that stuff…" "Ambrosia." Annabeth corrected.

"Yeah. You asked me something about the summer solstice."

Annabeth shot straight as a ramrod, and Shin-li looked over curiously.

"So you do know something!" she said triumphantly.

"Well…no." He said, now looking embarrassed. "Back at my old school I overheard Grover and Chiron talking about it. Grover mentioned the summer solstice. He said something like we didn't have much time, because of the deadline. What did that mean?"

Annabeth clenched her fists. "I wish I knew. Chiron and the satyrs, they know but they won't tell me. Something is wrong in Olympus, something pretty major. Last time I was there, everything seemed so normal."

"You've been to Olympus?"

"Some of the year-rounders - Luke, Clarisse, Xander, and Shin-li and I - we took a field trip during the winter solstice. That's when the Gods have their big annual council."

"But…how did you get there?"

"Long Island Railroad, of course. You get off at Penn Station. Empire State Building, special elevator to the six hundredth floor." She said, looking at Percy like he was an idiot. "You are a New Yorker, right?"

Shin-li sighed, once again asking her how a new camper could possibly know this.

"Right after we visited," Annabeth continued, ignoring him, "the weather got weird, as if the Gods had started fighting. A couple of times since, I've overheard satyrs talking. The best I can figure, something important was stolen. And if it isn't returned by the summer solstice there's going to be trouble. When you came I was hoping…I mean, Athena can get along with just about anybody, except for Ares. And of course she's got the rivalry with Poseidon. But, I mean, aside from that, I thought we could work together. I thought you might know something."

Percy just shook his head, completely out of his depth.

"I've got to get a quest," Annabeth muttered. "I'm not too young, if they would just tell me the problem…" Shin-li put a hand on Percy's shoulder. "She'll be like that for a while." He said with a smile, leading the boy over to the campfire.

He passed Luke on his way to the Athena table. "I've done my bit, for now." He said as they paused, looking for all the world like they were just chatting. "Tag out."

* * *

All right. Well, unless I miss my guess, next chapter is capture the flag, so make sure to check back in. And, again, make sure to read the other side of this fic, written by Truly Human.


	3. We Capture a Flag-Alt

Shin-li was… disappointed. He had been sure that Percy would excel at most of the basic exercises in camp, or at least hold his own. He wasn't horrible, but he was far from living up to Shin-li's expectations. At first, he tried to tell himself that it was just a matter of time until Percy hit his stride, but when he found himself blinking owlishly at the arrow that had just sprouted from the pages of his book, he was forced to accept it: Percy was far more unskilled than he had thought.

After some consideration, he decided to leave most of Percy's… _conditioning_… to Luke. He didn't want to show undue interest in the boy, and Luke was more than capable. He took a backseat, subtly adjusting Percy's perspective on Lukes more heavy-handed views when he spoke with the boy.

Most of his time and energy was spent observing Chiron, and, more importantly, Dionysus. Contrary to popular belief, Gods were not constantly aware of everything around them. Their senses were merely sufficient to act like it. Things could be hidden from them. They could be deceived. It just took someone good enough at hiding their thoughts and actions. And Shin-li was the best.

On Percy's third day at camp, he decided to visit Percy's first sword fighting lesson. It would be a good way to gauge his talents. He took a leisurely pace towards the Hermes cabin intending to catch the end of the lesson. Luke had mentioned something about possibly embarrassing Percy, making him just a bit more discontent at camp. Personally he thought it was a bit much, even for Luke, but it was his call. Unless there would be serious consequences, he didn't want to interfere.

As he got closer to the cabin, he noticed that everyone seemed to be standing in a ring instead of pairing off. _Looks like it's happening now._ He focused past the ring of bystanders to see Luke facing off against a soaked Percy. Apparently he had been trying to cool himself down. Once he got closer, however, he stopped, confused. Luke didn't seem to be holding back, but by all accounts, Percy didn't possess anywhere near the level of skill he was displaying.

An instant later he had to restrain himself from gasping in shock. Had Percy Jackson, classic city boy and all around wimp, just disarmed the best swordsman camp halfblood had seen in five centuries? It didn't seem possible. And yet Lukes sword was on the ground, and Percy's was at his chest. Percy murmured something under his breath.

Luke broke out into a wide smile. "Sorry?" Shin-li heard. "By the gods, Percy, why are you sorry? Show me that again!" Shin-li started towards them again as Luke picked up his sword, but this time there was no contest. It didn't take three seconds for Luke to have him dead to rights. "Beginners luck?" He asked as he walked up, working to keep a smirk off of his face. There was no way that was beginners luck and they both knew it.

"Maybe," Luke responded, "but I wonder what Percy could do with a balanced sword…"

After everything was sorted out, the two of them took a walk around the camp borders. "I told you." Shin-li was saying. "I told you it was Poseidon. There's no one else it could possible be, not after that." Luke threw up his hands in defeat.

"Okay, okay, you're right. No way one of the lesser gods has a kid that powerful, at least not without a seriously freakish backstory. But it doesn't get him on our side, now, does it?"

Shin-li gave a mirthless smile. "It might help. You can tailor your suggestions now, predict what's coming. If you can make Percy resent Poseidon before his lineage is even revealed, you have a major advantage with any later steps you have to take."

Luke nodded, pursing his lips. "I could make that work…" He shrugged, shaking his head. "Well, I don't think I'll be able to do anything major until the weekend at this point. Small suggestions, maybe, but nothing with a massive effect on the kid."

Shin-li grinned. "I've got something to work with during the game, though." Luke looked up, interested. "What've you got planned?" Shin-li's grin grew. "Well, if the alliances work out like I plan, and the strategies are what I predict, I should be able to set him up against Xander by himself. He'll either lose hard to one of Olympus's golden boys, or he'll reveal his true potential far ahead of what I think _they_ have scheduled."

Luke was now wearing his widest shit-eating grin. "Oh, this is gonna be brutal."

* * *

Capture the flag was just about to begin, and the cabin leaders were holding a war council. Well, really Annabeth, Shin-li, and Luke were holding it. Apollo's councillor was just there as a formality, and they all knew it.

"Place patrols here, here, and here," said Annabeth, pointing, "and try and draw their attention. Have two squads scrambled in these locations, quietly, to hold the line against sneak attacks." Shin-li looked closely.

"The biggest push will probably happen here," He said, marking a particular spot. "What's more, Xander will probably head in that direction. Luke." Luke's head snapped around, a focused look on his face. "Take four squads there about five minutes in. We'll deal with the manpower shortage. I'll take one small strike team through here," he marked out another area, "and try to punch through their defences."

Annabeth nodded, but then stopped. "Wait a minute, what about this spot, on the creek?" Shin-li followed her gave, noting her concern. "Hmm… too important to leave alone, not important enough for a proper guard…" Luke spoke up. "How about a watchman? Someone to make a lot of noise in case someone actually does try to go that way?" Shin-li and Annabeth looked at each other for a moment, then nodded once. "That'll work," Annabeth said, satisfied.

"What's more, it's the perfect post for a new camper," Shin-li noted. "Easy to both remember and succeed, and it gets his feet wet." "Agreed," said Annabeth. "Luke?" Luke was already on his way out of the tent. "I'll tell him."

The cabin leaders spread out, delivering orders and preparing for battle. Shin-li allowed himself a smirk. Manipulating that situation had been simultaneously the most difficult and delicate strategic feat he had ever accomplished. In the end, however, he was extremely proud of the results. No matter what the outcome was, Percy would not be happy with the Gods by the end of it. Whether or not he was _aware_ that they were the target of his displeasure when the time came was still up for grabs, but this was certain to be a victory.


End file.
